Yes, quite so. And some labels are notorious for that problem on Tidal… e.g. Linn…
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With the festive season approaching, most of us will have heard more than enough “muzak” in the shops. I wanted to share some alternative Classical music to give us all some rest and calm in these difficult times. So here goes…
Not a “traditional” Christmas CD, and much the better for it. Beautiful singing and great sonics - listen to Stille Nacht (Silent Night) as just one example.
Stunning music and a really good performance. The beginning of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols makes the religious aspect of Christmas the centrepiece of the performance - sends shivers down the spine.
More 20th century carols from an outstanding English choral group - thoughtful and challenging music - the perfect antidote to Christmas shopping!
Modern carols sung by the choir of one of England’s oldest university colleges - St John’s was founded in 1511, and has an almost unbroken musical tradition since the days of Henry VIII.
Magical singing (and piano playing) from Norway. This is just a fabulous record - great sonics from 2L and a wonderful performance from Tord Gustavsen on piano and the amazing Norwegian Girls’ Choir (Det Norske Jentekor). Listen to track 6 (Glade jul) for a uniquely magical version of Silent Night.
One final recommendation, with a poignant rendition of the Ukrainian Carol of the Bells and some lovely 20th century British music.
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This is a brilliant orchestral arrangement by Julian Yu.
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I almost exclusively listen to classical music. Mostly chamber music, but Roon helps me a lot with discovering new recordings.
My old time favourite:
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I found this album refreshing. Not only are the works played original, the cellist can play really colourful. I have seen her live a couple of times, and she’s really impressive.
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Wonderful choices. Janos Starker, Mstislav Rostropovich and Gregor Piatigorsky remain pinnacles in the cellist mountain range. I’m partial to Starker, but it is a close run thing between the three. The Mitsuko Uchida Philips Mozart Piano Sonatas is wonderful, as are a number of other recordings, such as the Debussy 12 Etudes. Lovely that these came up as Roon suggestions. Roon with Qobuz integrations is the bees knees for classical and jazz music lovers for ≥ RBCD resolution recordings. An amazing time for listening to different artists and comparing performance, which I recently did using Roon/Qobuz for the Mozart Piano Sonatas (10 artists, including Brendel, Pires, de Larrocha, Haebler, Kraus, Schiff, Prosseda, Ólaffson, and, most recently recorded, Mao Fujita). Such relatively simple pieces played with remarkably variable coloring/tempo and audio engineering.
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searching for this recording by its title yielded zero results. searching by the artist, and it was the first result.
weird.
thanks for the recommendation.
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I had the same issue… Weird indeed !
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You should also try Robert Levin’s recent recording of the Mozart sonatas on Mozart’s own fortepiano It gives a quite different perspective on them.
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And Elisabeth Leonskaja (Warner 2022) and William Youn (Oehms Classics, 2013-17)…
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Thank you. I have enjoyed listening to Mr. Levin’s performance on the Salzburg Mozarteum fortepiano. I can’t help but thinking that were Mozart given the opportunity to play a modern grand piano, he would have jumped at the chance. Still enjoyable to hear what he and his listeners may have heard when he performed. It is amusing that the key colorings are reversed on the Walter compared to modern pianos. I put this performance in a different category than the others I’ve listened to. Excellent of its kind and thank you again.
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Thank you for pointing to Youn, somehow never saw beyond Schubert (ignorance)
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Thank you. I had read of the Leonskaja recording and was persuaded against listening to it on the basis of Harriet Smith’s Gramophone review last year. Shame on me. Mentored by Richter. Perhaps I’ll have a go after all. The William Youn is new to me and I look forward to listening to his performances. Thank you. Interestingly, having listened to > 12 performers of these “lady finger (according to Charles Ives)” pieces, I have no overall favorite. Remarkable differences in the performances/sound engineering. I have a hard time listening to poorly engineered performances even when they are outstanding.
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That we have in common… Purely on the basis of engineering you might enjoy Youn’s cycle, but I find his unpretentious and straightforward interpretations quite remarkable. He definitely has the light touch of a lady’s finger…
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I sometimes agree with Gramophone’s reviews, but ever so often I don’t. I find Leonskaja’s cycle one to cherish… Of course, she is in her mid-seventies, but I imagine if you listened to her playing without knowing this little detail, you’d never guess…
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I hadn’t realized that my favorite pianist, Marc-Andre Hamelin, had recorded eight of these on Hyperion. The Gramophone review of Mr. Youn’s second Mozart Piano Sonata recording mentions Hamelin’s recording. Purchasing tonight. Great enjoying the Youn K282 performance. Well engineered and performed indeed. Thank you again.
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I see you are beginning from the beginning… The five albums of the Youn cycle don’t present the sonatas in chronological order… That sometimes is a disadvantage… e.g. for easily picking one of the pieces to compare to other interpretations…
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I just remembered another memorable cycle—that by Klára Würtz… this was performed in 1998 and released on Brilliant Classics. Don’t let the label deter you… it’s one of the great cycles, indeed.
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Thanks, after Youn I’ll play Klara Wurts
I know you are not a big fan of Fazil Say (posted a while ago referring to the Kopatchinskaja Kreutzer), he also has the complete set, maybe I just got used to it 
A wonderful feature of a radio would be to play in parallel multiple versions
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Ah. Another performance/recording to look forward to. I greatly enjoyed her recent Goldberg Variations on Piano Classics. I gave up on being snobbish about particular labels a long time ago. Have heard many great recordings on “lesser” labels. Thank you so much!
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